Attacker of Bangladeshi Hindu teacher killed in shootout

A suspected Islamist accused in the murderous attack on a Hindu math teacher was killed in a shootout with Bangladesh police on Saturday morning, police said.

Golam Faizullah Fahim, prime accused in the attack on a Madaripur teacher on June 14, was a member of the Hizb-ut Tahrir group. He was on a 10-day remand in connection with the attempted murder case, The Daily Star reported.

Fahim had been handed over to the police after being caught by locals while fleeing after a machete attack on Ripan Chakraborty, a lecturer of Nazimuddin University College in the district, that left him critically injured.

According to police, Fahim was being taken to Miachar area in Sadar upazila to nab his cohorts on Saturday.

A shootout began as other suspects named by Fahim started shooting as the police arrived in the area.

Fahim was hit by a bullet in the gunfight and was pronounced dead when taken to the hospital, the police official said.

A court on Friday put Fahim on a 10-day remand after Sub-Inspector of Madaripur Sadar Police Ayub Ali filed an attempted murder case against him and several others in connection with the attack.

Meanwhile, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party said the government was trying to cover-up the "real story" behind Saturday's shootout.

It said the government by killing Fahim, was trying to hush up the whole incident, bdnews24.com reported.

"The government killed him, which means they are covering it up. They are trying to suppress the truth," senior BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said.

Referring to his party chief Khaleda Zia's recent statements blaming the government for the targeted killings, Rizvi said: "Today's incident proves that once again."

"The information that could have been gleaned from his interrogation would have led to the actual perpetrators, but now it is not possible as Faizullah has been murdered," he said.

Bangladesh has been seeing a wave of targeted killings of bloggers, secularists and religious minorities which began in 2013 and has escalated in recent months.

To date, more than 50 people have been killed, often through machete attacks in public spaces.

Many of these killings have subsequently been claimed by Daesh (IS) or Ansar al-Islam, a Bangladeshi militant group linked to Al-Qaeda, but their involvement has not been established.

The government denies the presence of both the groups in the country.

--IANS

py/rn/bg